The English Prince and the Wooden Box
by Tea and Yaois
Summary: Based off of James Thurber's "The Princess and the Tin Box", here's a Valentines day special from me to you; a Hetalia fanfic with a twist ending. One-shot with Prince!England. Possible alternate ending for chapter 2. Maybe. Read !


The English Prince and the Wooden Box

Based on the story: The Princess and the Tin Box by James Thurber

Once upon a time, in a castle somewhere in England, there was a King who's son was the strongest and most handsome in all the lands. His hair was as gold as the sun and his eyes was the same deep shade of green as the very grass around the castle. He studied the magical arts and and prided himself upon his abilities.

From the moment he was born, Arthur Kirkland was showered with gifts. He had a new toy every time he turned around. The gifts were always made from the finest of silk, or the greatest of the gold or the most polished emeralds. Sometimes he'd even receive antique books or treasures. He was not aloud to have any wooden toys, flannel clothes, paper books or plastic figures, because such gifts were considered to cheap for the son of the King.

When Arthur was seven years old he attended his older brother, Iain's wedding. Unlike normal weddings, though, the wife was showered with rubies instead of rice.

Only the best and most formally dressed of singers were permitted to sing for the the prince. Wood flute and the common blackbird were kept far out of the castle grounds. His clothes made of the best of sheep's wool and laced in gold thread. His bed had diamonds implanted in the oak and his bed was covered with rare jewels every night.

The very day Prince Arthur turned 18 his father decided he should wed a prince or princess from another castle in order to expand their wealth. He sent the news to all neighboring royal families that his son was of the age to wed and would marry the suitor who brought him the gift he liked the most.

The first prince who arrived at the palace was a french man named Francis. He road up on a beautiful white horse and wore red trousers and a blue cape. His blonde hair framed his face and came down to the middle of his neck. He presented Prince Arthur with bouquet of roses made of solid gold which he had stolen from a fierce dragon's nest (though Prince Arthur doubted the story because the man carried no sword or bow and arrow, nor did he have cuts or burns which dragons were known to inflict on their visitors). It was set on a long, stone table that was used to display the gifts from the Prince's suitors.

The second prince, who was a Russian man named Ivan, who had rode to the castle in a horse-drawn carriage, wearing a trench coat and a wool scarf. He offered the prince a scarf made of thick silk with a generous amount of diamonds and rubies sewn on the edges. He placed the scarf next to the bouquet of gold roses on the stone table.

The third prince to come to the palace was an English speaking Japanese man named Kiku Honda who was royalty in his country and had heard of him despite the distance of their castles and rode up on a black stallion. He had black hair and had a sword at his side. He bowed down before Arthur and presented him with him a glass jewelry box that had a platinum rim that had diamonds, emeralds and rubies incrusted in it. It was set next to the silk scarf on the stone table.

The fourth prince to come to the castle was a Canadian named Mathew. He was a timid man and rode up – surprisingly enough – on a white bear, which was as tame as a lap dog. He walked up to Arthur and sheepishly offered him a bear made of silver, with a gold nose and diamond eyes. It's features were painted with what looked to be melted down gold and the pads of the paws were covered with copper. Mathew had told him that it was made to look like a bear he had back home named Kumayoshi. Arthur had to admit, the silver bear was cute. It was carefully placed on the stone table next to the glass box.

Now the fifth and last suitor was an American man named Alfred. He was, without a doubt, the strongest and most handsome of the five suitors. He entered the castle after walking for three hours without having a ride with his dirty-blonde hair combed, and yet one strand defying gravity and sticking up on end near his forehead. He wore a white shirt made of cotton and a leather jacket. He had a cheap pair of what Arthur guessed were blue jeans and a pair of cracked glasses covering his sea-blue eyes. He came from a town quite a few miles away, that was still in the process of being built. Most of the people living there worked as builders or warriors or monster exterminators. He walked up to Arthur giving him a boy-ish grin and plopped a small, dirty wooden box in his lap confidently. Arthur was taken aback by his lack of respect, but still charmed by his though guy attitude, not used to it. Arthur opened the wooden box, frowning as the rusted hinges squeaked, but the smile vanished as he saw the gift inside. The objects that the box contained were foreign to him. It was filled with small bones, dried fish scales and beautiful oyster shells, which sparkled like it was reflecting a rainbow. It held dried lava rocks and some odd-looking fossils that were probably so common that he could find them in his exceptionally long driveway. All of them were things that he'd never seen before, apart from in school books. He had probably picked all this stuff up on his way here, but Arthur didn't care. It was still amazing to him.

Francis's and Ivan's laughter roared through the entire room at the gift while Kiku stifled his laughter and Mathew starred at Alfred like he was some sort of idiot, but Arthur still turned the objects this way and that, gasping and marveling at the different features of the strange gifts. All his life he had been showered with rare jewels and fabric, that clearly was priced no less than a fortune, but was totally cut off from the common objects of the outside world. He had never seen the bone of an animal or the scales of a fish. Never once had he felt the surface of a rock with his bare hands or looked at one long enough to see the little indent that looked to have been a shell or some kind of sea life. He had never even been aloud to leave the castle far enough to see lava rocks.

And so, the little wooden box was set on the table next to the silver bear.

"And now," the King began, looking to his son, "you shall pick the gift you like most and wed the prince who brought it."

Arthur smiled to his father and stood up, walking slowly to the stone table and picked up the gift that he liked the most. It was the platinum rimmed glass box.

"The way I figure it," Arthur announced, gazing at the glass box, but then looking up to Prince Kiku and smiling, "this is a very large and expensive box. I am sure by the time we are wed I will meet many admirers and well-wishers, who will give me precious gems and jewels to which I can fill this box to the top with. Therefore, this is the most valuable and useful, and so I like it the most." he concluded before grinning at his father, who smiled in agreement and approval.

And so, Prince Arthur and Prince Kiku were married and the glass box was filled with pearls, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and Arthur loved it.

Moral of the story: _All those who thought that the Prince was going to select the wood box filled with worthless stones and bones instead of one of the other gifts will kindly stay after class and write one hundred times on the blackboard, "I would rather have a hunk of wood than a diamond necklace."_

**Okay, well, happy Valentines day! XP I bet this isn't the kind of story you'd want to read today, but I liked the story so I posted it. ^^ It's based off of The Princess and the Tin Box, which was a story that I thought was amuzing so I re-made it with England as a Prince. XP**

**A/N**

**Prince Arthur - England**

**Iain - Scotland**

**Prince Francis - France**

**Prince Ivan - Russia**

**Prince Kiku - Japan**

**Prince Mathew - Canada**

**Prince Alfred - America**

**The King - That's up to your imagination...**

**Well, that's all. I may make an alternate ending later, though. Read and Review PLEASE! :)**


End file.
